Chongqing Jiangbei International Airport

Chongqing Jiangbei International Airport is the main international airport serving the city of Chongqing in Southwestern China. It is located in Yubei, Chongqing, about 19 km north of the Chongqing urban center.

The airport is a major aviation hub for airlines in western China, including China Express Airlines, China Southern Airlines (Chongqing Airlines), Sichuan Airlines, Shandong Airlines, XiamenAir and West Air. Chongqing is a focus city of Air China and Hainan Airlines.

Jiangbei Airport has undergone multiple major expansions. The latest expansion involves a new terminal 3B and a fourth runway currently under construction as of 2023. The first, second, and third phases of the airport came into operation in January 1990, December 2004, and December 2010, respectively. Terminal 2 is capable of handling 15 million passengers and Terminal 3A 45 million passengers annually.

It was the second-busiest airport in Mainland China by passenger traffic in 2022, and the sixth-busiest as of 2023. Jiangbei Airport was awarded the best airport in its size category by Airports Council International in 2017 and again in 2018.

History
The civil aviation of Chongqing dates back to the 1920s. After the completion of Baishiyi Airport in 1938, Chongqing became one of the four cities in China that had an airport in operation. In 1950, four flight routes from Tianjin, Chengdu, Guangzhou and Kunming to Chongqing became the earliest to be opened after the establishment of the People's Republic of China in 1949. In 1965, the Civil Aviation Administration of China opened an office in Sichuan Province and Chongqing Airport became subject to it. The development of Chongqing's civil aviation then stopped until the 1990s.

On 22 January 1990, the new airport, Chongqing Jiangbei Airport was opened to replace the old Baishiyi Airport's commercial flight functions, which remained open as a military airport. The development of the civil aviation resumed. In 1997, when the Chongqing area became a 4th municipality of China, Civil Aviation Administration of China established a branch in Chongqing in the same year.

Terminals
Chongqing Jiangbei International Airport contains three terminals: Terminal 1 (currently closed), Terminal 2A and 2B (domestic services), and Terminal 3A (domestic and international services). Terminals 1 and 2 are situated along the western perimeter of the airport, while the larger, newer Terminal 3A is located farther southeast of the former two. CRT line 10 and free terminal shuttle bus provide services between Terminal 2 and 3A.


 * Terminal 1 was the original passenger terminal building when Jiangbei Airport was first opened in 1990. It handled international services until its closure in August 2017.
 * Terminal 2 contains two concourses (hence 2A and 2B). Concourse A was opened in 2004 and Concourse B in 2010. The terminal has 30 gates and annual passenger capacity of 37 million. It currently handles domestic services. It offers concourse access to CRT Terminal 2 of Jiangbei Airport Station which is serviced by CRT line 3 and 10.
 * Terminal 3A was opened in August 2017. The terminal is the largest of the three and has 66 gates. It has annual passenger capacity of 45 million. It currently handles domestic services and all international services. It offers concourse access to CRT Terminal 3 of Jiangbei Airport Station which is serviced by CRT line 10.
 * Terminal 3B is currently under construction as part of the fifth phase expansion project of the airport. Construction is projected to complete in 2024.

Development
Chongqing Jiangbei International Airport is currently undergoing a major expansion, with a vision of obtaining a major international air hub and becoming the largest airport in western China by 2030. Jiangbei Airport has been outlined ambitious growth plans, competing with Chengdu Airport, Kunming Airport, Wuhan Airport and Xi'an Airport to be recognized as the nation's fourth largest aviation hub (after those hubs in Beijing, Shanghai, and Guangzhou).

Jiangbei Airport was reported to have reached the fastest growth rates since 2011, according to CAPA's Airport Traffic Benchmark Tool. On 1 November 2015, the annual passengers at Jiangbei Airport exceeded 30 million for the first time.



Airport expansion
The expansion project Phase III, which included a second runway and an additional Terminal, T2, started construction in 2007 and completed in 2010. Major elements of the construction were adding a second runway of 3200 m (which was later lengthened to 3600 m to satisfy the landings and takeoffs of Boeing 747 and the demands of Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P.) to the east of the existing runway, building a parallel taxiway in between the two runways, and setting up a visual aid lighting support system. It also added a second terminal building (T2) with an area of 86000 m2, 41 apron aircraft parking stands, and a freight station and support facilities occupying an area of 20000 m2. It cost CNY3.3 billion (US$538 million). On 22 December 2010, the second runway was commissioned, which made Jiangbei Airport the fourth airport in mainland China to operate two runways, one exclusively for departures and the other exclusively for arrivals.

The most recent expansion - Phase IV (dubbed the Eastern Expansion) - of Jiangbei Airport has been the biggest and contains the construction of a third runway and a new terminal, T3A, being 530000 m2, more than double the size of the existing terminals (T1 and T2A/T2B) combined, costing CNY26.0 billion (US$4.1 billion). Most of T3A's construction work was completed by the end of 2016. The terminal was inaugurated in August 2017, after which the airport has more than 725000 m2 of terminal floor space, ranking Jiangbei Airport among China's 15 largest airports with an annual passenger capacity of 60 million and an annual cargo capacity of 2 million tons. Half of the terminal (concourses G & H) is for international flights from major cities in South East Asia, East Asia, Middle East, Africa, Europe, and North America. After the completion of expansion Phase IV, Jiangbei Airport became the fourth airport in Greater China (inc. Hong Kong, Macau, and Taiwan) that has three runways in operation, of which Runway #3 (03/21) is operated independently on top of the pair #1 (02L/20R) and #2 (02R/20L).



The fifth phase of expansion for Jiangbei Airport is currently underway. It is expected to include a new terminal, namely T3B and a fourth runway. The satellite terminal is designed by Zaha Hadid Architects and CSWADI, with interior design later updated by Nordic Office of Architecture. The terminal will be connected via underground air-side monorail. This phase will be finished in the mid-2020s.

Note: Remote bays include the ones that serve the air freighters.

Surge in cargo traffic
Cargo traffic increased at an average rate of 14% in the first six months of 2011, driven by exponential growth in international cargo. International cargo/mail volumes increased by 12 times from 2010 levels in the first half of 2011, to more than 9000 tonnes. In the second half of 2011, this growth rate is expected to be maintained, with Hewlett-Packard, Asus and other brands of large international IT production capacity supporting the increase, to an anticipated 60,000 to 80,000 tonnes of international cargo throughout the whole year.

New international routes
Before 2010, Chongqing Jiangbei International Airport's international destinations all terminated in East and Southeast Asia, including direct flights to Tokyo (has stop-over in Beijing or Shanghai), Seoul, Singapore, Bangkok, Phuket, Siem Reap, etc. In 2011, Qatar Airways opened a new route to Doha. Finnair’s services to Helsinki would later be added in 2012.

With the new T3A terminal in operation since August 2017, the airport has had multiple new international routes with non-stop flights to London, Dubai, Los Angeles, New York, Sydney, Melbourne, Rome, Paris, Budapest, etc. T3A Terminal and the third runway of Chongqing Jiangbei International Airport started operation at 06:00 on 29 August 2017. In the meantime, T1 was temporarily closed, T2 serve only domestic flights operated by Sichuan Airlines, West Airlines, Huaxia Airlines and Spring Airlines, and the remaining flights were transferred to T3A. In addition, the airport operates a free trans-shipment shuttle between T2 and T3A in a 24-hour operation.

Statistics
Source: CAAC (Civil Aviation Administration of China)

Number of domestic and international/regional passengers (bar chart, 2009–2018)

Source: CQA (Chongqing Airport Group Co., Ltd.)

Ground transportation
The airport's ground transportation is developing very fast. Four highways around the airport are either under construction or have been built, as part of plans to turn Chongqing into an integrated regional transport hub in western China. There is a 300000 sqm GTC (Ground Transportation Centre) in front of T3A's main terminal building, providing transfer to inter-city rail, metro, buses, long-distance coach and taxis.

General plan of integrated transportation Hub at Chongqing Jiangbei International Airport:
 * One inter-city rail: Branch of Chongqing-Wanzhou Inter-City Rail
 * Two lines of Chongqing Rail Transit: CRT Line 3 and Line 10
 * Three latitudinal roadways: (1) outer ring expressway, (2) relocated National Highway G319, and (3) southern connecting freeway
 * Four longitudinal roadways: (1) first freeway of CKG Airport (National Highway G210), (2) second freeway of CKG Airport (under construction), (3) Chongqing-Linshui expressway, and (4) northern connecting roadway

Airport express bus routes
Airport Express lines are easily accessible at Terminals 2 and 3.
 * Route K01: Jiangbei Airport → Jiazhou (加州) → Damiao (大庙) → Shangqingsi (上清寺) → Chongqing Great Hall → Jiefangbei. It takes about 50 minutes from the airport to the city centre (Jiefangbei).
 * Route K02: Jiangbei Airport → Qixia Road (栖霞路) → North Square of Chongqingbei Railway Station. 40 minutes may be taken from the airport to the High-Speed railway station.
 * Route K03: Jiangbei Airport → Yanggongqiao (Shapingba)
 * Route K05: Jiangbei Airport → Sigongli Bus Terminal
 * Route K06: Jiangbei Airport → Chongqing West Railway Station
 * Route K07: Jiangbei Airport → Shapingba Railway Station

Long-distance coach services
There is a transfer center for long-distance coaches between Terminal 2A and Terminal 2B, and it offers bus services to nearby cities in Sichuan and Guizhou Province, as well as suburban areas of Chongqing Municipality.

Freeways and roads
There is currently one airport freeway connecting the city center with the airport, and the second one is under construction and will be put into operation in the late 2016. The airport freeway is 23 kilometers long, but it usually takes as many as 30 minutes to get from the city center to the airport because of the heavy traffic.

Parking
The airport has four parking lots:


 * International (Outdoor) Parking Lot, located in front of Terminal 1 (With certain sections transformed into a drive-in cinema since March 2022 )
 * Domestic (Outdoor) Parking Lot, located in front of Terminal 2
 * Underground (Indoor) Parking Lot, located under Terminal 2
 * Central Parking Garage, located in the GTC (Ground Transportation Center) in front of Terminal 3

All together, the airport can accommodate about 7,300 cars at one time.

Chongqing Rail Transit (CRT)


Chongqing Rail Transit Line 3 runs from Chongqing Jiangbei International Airport's Terminal 2 station, going through the city center via Lianglukou station and onto its final stop, Yudong, covering a distance of 60 km. It takes around 50 minutes to get to the city center (Lianglukou).

Line 10, serves as the second metro line connecting the urban areas of Chongqing and the airport. One station of Line 10 is at Terminal 3 and the other is at Terminal 2. This line runs under Runways #1 (02L/20R) and #2 (02R/20L), connecting Terminal 2 and Terminal 3 in landside. Line 10 is the only metro line access to the new Terminal 3, while Line 3 will not be elongated to Terminal 3. Line 10 also reduces the travel distance between Chongqing Jiangbei International Airport and Chongqingbei Railway Station, which can facilitate the transfers of passengers between air and rail.

China Railway (Intercity trains)
Terminal 3A has a large underground railway station as part of its GTC (Ground Transportation Center). It is adjacent to the Chongqing Rail Transit Line 10 metro station. The railway station opened on 30 December 2022, initially with limited service to stations along the Chongqing Railway Hub East Ring line, forming the Airport Branch of the railway line. It is one stop away from Chongqing North railway station, a major railway station servicing Chongqing.

The station is designed to connect cities as far as 300 kilometers away, thus allowing Chongqing Jiangbei International Airport to serve a significantly larger population. The speed of the trains is designed to be 250 to 300 kilometers per hour, allowing journeys to take less than one hour from a relatively faraway locations within the Chongqing Municipality.

Other facilities
The headquarters of China Express Airlines are on the airport property.

Incidents

 * On 8 July 2020, a Ruili Airlines Boeing 737 flying from Xi'an to Kunming had to make an emergency landing at Chongqing Jiangbei International Airport after suffering a broken cockpit window and plunging 10,000 feet before pilots recuperated control of the aircraft. None of the plane's occupants were injured during the incident.
 * On 12 May 2022, a Tibet Airlines Airbus A319-100, operating as Tibet Airlines Flight 9833 from Chongqing to Nyingchi Mainling Airport in Nyingchi, Tibet, left the runway after an aborted takeoff because of an "abnormality". The planes engines then scraped on the lawn, causing them to break and burst into flames. All 113 passengers and 9 crew members evacuated safely, but 36 of them suffered from minor injuries.